As the nature of technology changes, the habits of consumers and the mechanisms of most effectively marketing to those consumers evolve. Conventionally, the Baby Boomer generation is considered by the marketing community to be comprised of brand loyalists whose purchasing decisions could be affectively influenced by brand image-based advertising. Thus, one of the most effective ways to market to the Baby Boomer generation is still traditional repetitive TV and radio advertising campaigns. Consumers that are members of younger generations, however, are thought to differ from Baby Boomers in that they tend to be more technologically savvy and less brand loyal. In this regard, marketing techniques such as web popup ads and banner ads may be used in addition to traditional advertising mechanisms in order to reach members of this generation.
Further, while consumers from older generations may have relied upon the expertise of sales persons in retail locations when making product purchase decisions, consumers from younger generations increasingly rely upon information collected form various third party sources. For example, it is common for many consumers from Internet savvy households to research products online and compare reviews from various competing products before making purchasing decisions. Such researching not only allows the consumer to learn the functions and or features of various products, but also to monitor and identify competitive pricing for products of interest.
As Generation Y, generally classified as including those persons born after 1980, continues to mature, the members of this generation grow in buying power and become increasingly important to marketers. The members of this generation, however, present their own unique challenges to advertisers and marketers. Members of Generation Y are generally thought of as being highly dependent upon technology in all facets of daily life. Members of Generation Y comprise a large proportion of the users of instant text messaging and mobile web (cell phone browsing of the Internet) and, compared with older generations, tend to be early adopters of new technologies. For example, marketing research indicates that the prime demographic for subscribers to portable music downloading services (which enable cell phone subscribers to download digital music files to their phones and/or play them back on their phone at any time from any location) are the relatively younger members of generation Y. Young consumers therefore are being indoctrinated into a lifestyle of regularly making decisions on the go in light of information collected from a variety of resources.
Specifically with regard to the types of marketing efforts being utilized, broadcast messages (such as TV and radio advertisement spots and print advertisements) targeting the widest audience possible still dominate as the most used marketing mechanism. Public touch points (e.g., roadside billboards, pop-up ads, etc.) are also used, but to a lesser extent. Consumer reaction to these mass marketing techniques is difficult to track with any level of detail or certainty.
Each current advertising medium, as currently utilized alone or in combination, provides inadequate advertisement performance due to limitations inherent to the medium. In the case of traditional television advertisements, the exposure to potential consumers is fairly large, but this exposure lasts only for a short period of time. Most problematic is that the exposure to television advertisements typically occurs at a time when the consumer is least ready to purchase (i.e., at home watching TV). Thus, even if the consumer is enticed to purchase the product or service or shop at the store or web site advertised, he or she must still remember to follow up on the offer at a later, more convenient time on his or her own. Further, traditional television advertisements do not provide advertisers with a means for establishing a continuing relationship with consumers.
With respect to interactive TV (usually supported by digital satellite and digital cable providers), merchants and advertisers have considered the use of interactive banner-type advertisements for display on the television screen that would allow consumers to follow up (by immediately connecting to an online e-commerce or information site in a manner similar to click-through Internet banners) on interesting advertisements, promotions or offers. This type of interactive television advertisements has been unsuccessful, however, because they create a diversion from regular programming as well as from upcoming advertisers.
Merchants and advertisers have also failed to find a manner that will gain mass public acceptance in which to utilize the mobile Internet (the integration of Internet access into mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones) for advertisements and other consumer promotions. These systems do not work well because a consumer can become so inundated with unwanted ads that he becomes disenfranchised with the mobile Internet and therefore either turns off his phone or even cancels his service completely.
The Internet has sponsored a few new and relatively successful advertising mediums, including online banner advertisements. On-line or electronic commerce (“e-commerce”) is claiming a progressively larger share of consumer purchases, and Internet advertising for both online retailers and traditional “brick and mortar” retailers has grown similarly. A useful feature particular to web page banner advertisements and other Internet (and interactive) advertisement methods is that web serving software allows for the simple tracking and recording of Internet traffic. Thus, on-line merchants and banner advertisers as well as major portals have recognized the benefit of recording e-buyer purchasing patterns and preferences in order to more effectively communicate with customers and target receptive buyers with working advertisements. Conversely, traditional paper based advertisement and incentive programs typically fail to provide valuable demographic information about consumers or only gather demographic information at the time of redemption by manual recording. Banner advertisements and other forms of on-line interactive advertising, however, still only reaches a small subset of potential consumers and is only capable of tracking the on-line activities of those consumers.
Thus, retail stores are finding it more and more difficult to reach and influence consumers, and younger generation consumers in particular, with traditional promotional mechanisms. A recent innovation by large retail chains directed at building brand loyalty in consumers includes the innovation of consumer loyalty club programs. Such loyalty programs entice consumers to join by offering rewards, such as coupons, cash back rewards, or eligibility for special promotional offers, that are offered only to consumers that participate in the loyalty program. A consumer joins such a program by typically providing the retailer (either at a retail location during checkout, or during check out at the retailer's E-commerce website) sign-up information including their identity, interests, address, email address, and the like, and possibly by paying a nominal fee. To qualify for their loyalty rewards, the participating consumer must present their loyalty club card or provide some sort of other identification each time they make a purchase from the retailer. After a certain number of purchases or a certain dollar amount of cumulative purchases is met by participating consumer, they will qualify to redeem certain rewards.
Retailers benefit from consumer loyalty programs in two manners. First, participating consumers are given an incentive to always make purchases from the same retailer or retail chain as opposed to competitors. Secondly, retailers are able to collect fairly targeted information regarding participating consumers' purchasing histories. For example, a retailer may notice that a certain consumer participating in their consumer loyalty program frequently buys CDs for a particular style of music. Since the retailer has this information as well as the participating consumer's home and email addresses, the retailer may be able to send targeted advertisements to the user (such as by promotional inserts included with mailings of consumer rewards certificates). In this manner, the above-described user could be provided with lists of newly released CDs of the particular music type that the user likes, or coupons providing percentage discounts on volume CD purchases. Additionally, such information may also be used to entice consumers regarding products and other related areas. The participating consumer that has a history of purchasing CDs on a regular basis may also be sent advertisements regarding other music and audio entertainment items, such as portable digital audio players, home theatre speakers, and the like.
Nevertheless, current customer loyalty programs utilized by retailers fail to fully capitalize upon the potential such programs provide for targeted advertising. Targeted advertising would be most useful in situations where the consumer is ready for an immediate purchase. In such circumstances, it would be helpful if retailers or marketers would be able to determine exactly what kind of purchase a given consumer is thinking of making and be able to provide information to that consumer at or near the time when the consumer is most likely to make a purchase in order to maximize the ability to influence the purchaser's decision. While traditional print and electronic mailings generated in conjunction with current loyalty programs may be targeted to consumers based upon demographic and purchase history information of loyalty program participants compiled over time, such mailings nonetheless reach the consumer (if at all) when the consumer is not necessarily interested in or thinking about making a purchase. If and when the consumer eventually decides to make a purchase, the targeted mailing could be long forgotten or even lost.
As described above, there are many inefficiencies with respect to how retailers, producers, manufacturers, and advertisers gain consumer insight and how they tailor and review their marketing efforts. In trying to gain insight to consumer needs and desires, these entities are hampered by having only a few data sources that provide limited and often conflicting data. Conventionally, consumer preferences could only be derived indirectly through demographics or directly through limited-reach questionnaires. In this “pre-connected” world, there are few incentives for consumers to participate in marketing or helping those entities learn about their consumer base.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for improved systems and methods for achieving targeted advertising. It would be advantageous if such methods and systems were capable of identifying consumers when consumers are ready to make a purchase and providing those consumers with demographically targeted and or specific consumer targeted advertising at the point of sale. In particular, it would be helpful if such systems and methods were capable of providing targeted advertisements to consumers whether they are shopping at traditional brick and mortar retail store locations or shopping on a retailers website.